Daughter Of The Dead, Sort Of
by feline-go-meow
Summary: Zoe is a happy girl,most of the time.Her mother loves her,she's never met her father but she's okay with that.And she's even going off to Hogawarts any day now.Her only complaint is that she sometimes gets scared for no particualr reason.Little does she k
1. Default Chapter

This takes place in the trio's seventh year, but they're hardly in it. This is this girl's first year.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hogwarts.  
  
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ONE  
  
My eyes snapped open and I found my heart beating fast in my neck. I was sweaty, and my senses were going crazy. I breathed hard.  
  
"Not now" I thought angrily, in dismay. "Why tonight?"  
  
My head ached.  
  
"Mom" I half whispered, half yelled into the night. No answer.  
  
"Damn." I whispered, and stomped off to the bathoom by myself.  
  
I studied my face in the mirror. It was pale, and pasty. My light brown hair was sweaty and hung around my face in limp threads. My green eyes were wide open and alert, and compared to the rest of my face, my mouth was bright red.  
  
I put some lip gloss onto my already overly greasy mouth, for something to do. My heart slowed, and I was starting to calm down a little, but not much. Wide eyed, I paced around the bathroom, repetedly stubbing my toe on the toilet, but not noticing. All hope of getting back to sleep was gone now. When I got one of my nightmares, headaces, or panic attacks, I stayed awake with my wide eyes staring at the cieling for  
  
hours at a time.   
  
"I guess I could read or something" I thought, as I made my way down the hall to my bedroom. "But it's only one a.m. I'll be exaughsted  
  
in the morning."  
  
My room glowed with the lights from my glow in the dark watch, the numerals on my clock, and my butterfly shaped nightlight. I was way too old for that nightlight. But when you wake up scared as often as I do, it's comforting to have.  
  
My butterflies hung from the cileling and walls, perched on my shelves, balanced on my doors and hangers and boxes.  
  
My room's done in pale sky blue, and a few years back, mom painted the baseboards and the bottom of the walls with grass designs and painted flowers and stuff growing from it. I did the clouds that covered the walls. Then we hung my butterflies.  
  
I've been collecting butterflies since I was eleven. I just turned eleven recently, but I feel about twenty. I grew up fast.  
  
I live with my mom. She's pretty awsome. She went to hogwarts. That's a school for magic people. She says my dad went too, but i've never met him. He left before I was born.  
  
Mom says i'll go too. I'll get my letter any day now, most likeley. I think she already has it, but wants to save it for the right time. In fact, I kNOW she has it, but I found it in her closet the other day. I went down town, (we live in London.) And bought all my stuff myself. tommorrow, is the first of September. i think mom was gonna take me to get my stuff and then see me off, but now we can spend that time together.  
  
Mom and I live like muggles, or, non-magic people. I'm pretty excited about going, I guess, but i'll have to leave behind my butterflies. I'll only be able to bring one or two, and I have HUNDREDS of favorites. Especially my sdtuffed one, Potato.   
  
I pulled the stuffed, faded, resewn pink butterfly from under the covers and pulled it up to me, cuddling it tightly. I'm definetley bringing Potato to Hogwarts.  
  
"Potato, why do you think I get these headacheds and get scared so often?" I whispered. Potato looked at me with his glass bead eyes and said nothing. As usual. I pretended he was saying :  
  
"Oh, I don't know, Zoe. Maybe you're just special." and smiled. When I did that, potato talks to me in his own way. The easiest way to explain it is to say that I'm pretending it, but it's something different that makes him talk. You know what I mean.  
  
"Zoe" Potato whispered in his own special way. "Are we taking anyone else to Hogwarts.?"  
  
"Probaby Zacharias, and maybe Sunflower." I whispered back. Zacharias hung suspended from my cieling, and Sumflower was a ceramic butterfly sitting in porcelain sunflowers.  
  
"What about Tara?" He whispered. "Are we bringing her?"  
  
I thought of the little blue butterfly that was designed to hang on a nail in the wall, but was usually kept on my pillow during the day, and the floor at night. She's about the same size as Potato, maybe about twelve inches across, and nine down. She's made of blue gossamar, glossy and transcluent.  
  
"I'm not sure." I whispered. It's a tough desision. Maybe if I leave Sunflower behind, she's really too delicate to bring anyway."  
  
"So, is that a yes?"  
  
"Ummm..oh, okay, why not? any particualr reason you wanted her to come?"   
  
"Ummm...no, not really. She's just nice."  
  
"Oh, okay. well, fine then. we'll bring Tara."  
  
"Zoe, lets pack now!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because you can't sleep anyway, and, um, you know, stuff!"  
  
"Oh, okay." I rolled out of bed.  
  
I pulled out my brown leather suitcase, and opened it up.  
  
"Let's see..."  
  
I filled it with my wizard's robes and hat, two t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, one baseball cap, underwear, and my winter jacket, mittens, and scarf.  
  
"Okay, that's about all you need for clothes." Potato remarked. "What about books?"  
  
"Duh." I said. I could never live without my books.  
  
On top of the clothes, I put all my school supplies, and my other books.  
  
"Personal items?"  
  
I put in all my photo albums, my camera, my framed picture of mom and me, my poster of butterflies that says "Fly Free" in whimsical letters, and my poetry journal.  
  
"Butterflies."  
  
I put in Tara, Zacharias, and after a bit of thought, Bitsy, the green plastic butterfly with pink spots on the wings.  
  
Then I put in my backpack, pens pencils and ink, paper, toothbrush, hairbrush, shampoo, conditioner, washcloth with the embroidered butterflies, and my keychain. ( A Purple butterfly with yellow stripes named Jonas.)  
  
Then I put in the small, shalow, carboard box, (I think it used to hold a christmas angel) and then took it out again.  
  
"Think I should take this?" I asked Potato, quietly.  
  
"Why not?" said Potato. I opened the box.  
  
Inside, pinned to the cardboard with straight pins, were about eighteen real butterflies. They had all been dead when I'd found them. I'd never kill a butterfly.  
  
There were three Swallowtails, seven little misilanious ones, two Zebras, three gossamer wings, two Brush-foots, and one Monarch that I found on a holiday to California.  
  
The Monarch was my favorite. He was so orange and pretty...he made me feeel safe, even when I had one of my inexplainble fear attacks.  
  
"Take them." Potato said quietly. "You'll find more there, I'm sure." 


	2. II

Hi. thanks to my reveiwer, the next chapter's up. I realized I made a mistake in the last chapter. where it says "I'd been collecting butterflies since I was eleven", it SHOULD say "i'd been collecting butterflies since I was SEVEN." Okay? good. Now, on with the chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Hogwarts.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!!!" the hat on my head screamed.   
  
"I'm going to get lice from this thing, I know it!" I thought, as I hurriedley janked it off and tossed it to the boy behind me. I sat down at the cheering table. "This is weird" I thought. I wished Potato was there.  
  
But Potato was away, high upsatirs in my dorm, wherever it was. It was at that moment I needed him most, around hundreds of strangers and strange places and things. Plus, my head was starting to hurt agian.  
  
"Hi." said the boy I'd passed the hat to, sitting down beside me. "That hat needs to be cleaned like nobody's business, huh?"  
  
"Yeah" I said, shyly. I wished the sorting would hurry up and we could eat, so i'd have something to do with my hands. I twiddled my thumbs.  
  
"So..." he said. "Um, I'm Paul."  
  
"I'm Zoe." I smiled.  
  
"LAWRENCE ZATHERS!" Cut though my thoughts. At the end of the hall, Lawrence put on the filthy hat.  
  
"So, uh, what do you like to do?" paul asked me.  
  
"Um, well, I collect butterflies."  
  
"Really? I collect shoe buttons."  
  
"What?"  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!!!"  
  
"Shoe buttons. In the old days people had buttons on their shoes instead of-"  
  
"I'm not stupid! I know what a shoe button is! I was going to say : What? Where would you get them?"  
  
"Oh." Paul looked quite embarassed. "Um, mostly from my uncle. He makes shoes."  
  
"Oh."  
  
The food appeared on the plates just then, and after adjusting to the shock of it, I helped myself to a half a baked potato and some pork chops, with peas. I must be the only person in the world who actually likes peas.  
  
i glanced over at Paul. He had blonde hair, and was wearing a button on the shoulder of his robes. i had a butterfly hairclip in. Hmmm..  
  
He was eating bacon and steak something or other, with carrots.  
  
"So," he said, glancing over at me, "what are your parents like?"  
  
"My mom's awsome. she spent two whole days painting individual blades of grass on my bedroom walls when I was eight. and she buys me new butterflies a lot. I never knew my dad."  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be. I can't be sad about it, cuz I never even saw a picture of him. what about yours?"  
  
"My parents are both dead. Died when I was three. I live with my Aunt and Uncle, but they're great. Aunt Liz makes apple blueberry pie every birthday of mine, and uncle taught me how to build stuff and read and a lot more, plus he gets me my shoe buttons."  
  
"He sounds nice."  
  
"He is."  
  
The desserts appeared.  
  
I looked for a minute or so, then chose a piece of blueberry pie. Paul had apple.  
  
"Can I have a few blueberries?" he asked.  
  
I gave him some, and he stirred them into the apples. He took a bite.  
  
"Hmm...not like auntie's, but okay."  
  
I ate my pie quietly.  
  
"So" he said, "What's your mom?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, I see what you mean. Um...I think dad was half blood, but maybe he wasn't, and I know for sure that mom's pureblood."  
  
"Ah." he said. "Just wondering. I'm muggle-born."  
  
"Me too!" said a girl with curly brown hair who's name I didn't know.  
  
"Patricia Adams." she said, ginning and wringing my hand. "Just call me Pat."  
  
"Hi."   
  
I could tell I was going to like her. She was so cheerful, smiling all the time. Her hair was so curly and wired together, you could've sworn it was painted steel wool. I had a feeling I had already found my two best friends.  
  
*  
  
"Potato, they're so nice! Pat sleeps in the next bed over, and on the other side of me is this girl named Marion. Then, there's also Lela, Amy, and Elizabeth who share with us. Paul sleeps in the boy's dorm."  
  
"sounds great" Potato smiled at me, in his stuffed animal way. Tara sat, shimmering, at the foot of my bed, and Zacharias hung from the canopy over my bed. The poster was also there, so I could look at it as I went to sleep, and all my books, albums and school suplies were in my bedside cabinet. Everyone had one.  
  
I scribbled a poem in my journal, unpacking and talking to Potato as everyonre else slept.  
  
Paul sat down beside me,   
  
me feeling unsecure.  
  
Patricia sat across,   
  
and used her hidden lure  
  
To make me want to like her,   
  
and like her lots I do,  
  
I have two new friends now.  
  
And with them, i'll start my life anew.  
  
"The last line's too long." Potato glanced over my shoulder.  
  
"No duh, stupid butterfly! I'm trying to figure out how to shorten it!" I put the picture of mom and me on my bedside table, and put my poetry away for later.  
  
I lifted the real butterflies carefully, and placed them in the drawer above the cupboard in the cabnet.  
  
"Potato, have you ever ben really, truly, significantly, almost insaneley happy?" I asked my little butterfly. He had just snuggled under the untouched red covers.  
  
"I suppose." he said, sleepily.  
  
"I'm feeling that way now." I said, as I climbed under the covers. "Really happy."  
  
I decided to write a letter to mom.  
  
"Dear Mom", I wrote.   
  
"School is great so far, except that i'm sharing a dorm with this one girl named Lela who seems kind of snobby, but all my other roommates are nice. I made two new friends already, Paul and Pat. They're both in my house. I'm in Gryffindor. You were in Ravenclaw, right?  
  
Oh, well. I heard about the house qualities, and I was surprised to be in Gryffindor because i'm not usually very brave.   
  
Lessons start tomorow. I'll try to get better marks here than I did at Muggle school.  
  
I miss you. So does Potato. We'll see you at Christmas.  
  
I'll write every day.  
  
Love,   
  
Zoe."  
  
It was a short letter, but I didn't have much to say. Oh, well.  
  
I put it on my cabinet to mail in the morning, and snuggled down under the covers with Potato. I fell asleep pretty quickly, it being after ten. The last thought I had was how happy I was...  
  
*  
  
I woke up around two am, sweaty and shaking. I'd just ahd the most horrible nightmare, but I couldn't remember hide nor hair of it. My hair was damp, and I was breathing hard. My heart hammered. I wished i had my nightlight, but it wouldn't work at Hogwarts.  
  
I tried to find Potato under the covers, which were twisted and churned up. I must have been thrashing.  
  
I found him, and cuddled up.  
  
"Another one?" he whispered.  
  
"No." I lied. "Go back to sleep."  
  
I tried to sleep the rest of the night, but I just couldn't do it. Before it was time to get up, I would have bags under my eyes.  
  
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Chapter three will be up soon.  
  
Reveiw. 


	3. III

Thanks a lot to all my reveiwers. I know I misspelled a few things, and that WAS due to fast typing, but ironically enough, my stupid word prossessor dosn't have spell check, so I think there's always gonna be one or 2 misspellings. Oh, and yes, I do collect butterflies, but I don't have as many as Zoe, and she's going to be no more childish than she is now, which she probably wouldn't be if she didn't have nightmares so often.  
  
Disclaimer : I think you've caught on by now. I don't own anything.  
  
Oh, and I'm not sure if the head boy/girl can give/take away points, but in this story, they can. So don't tell me weather or not they can in your review. (do that when you've finished, by the way.)  
  
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I woke up again the next morning, relived that I at least got a little sleep.i must have fallen asleep sometime, because I was waking up, right?  
  
Dimly, with sleep still plaguing my body and most of my mind, I felt around for Potato. He wasn't there.  
  
"Oh, damn." I thought. "He's fallen under the bed or something and now i'm gonna have to crawl under and get him in front of eveyone..."  
  
I rolled out of bed, messing up my covers even more than they already were, and rummaged under the bed, trying to hide what was sure to be there from everyone who was already awake.  
  
"Looking for something?" Lela apeared over my bed.  
  
"No." I mumbled.  
  
"Your teddy?"  
  
"I don't sleep with a teddy, Lela. Please go..."  
  
"Your butterfly? Your ripped, sewn, frayed, faded pink plush BUTTERFLY?"  
  
A few people looked up.  
  
"Please..." I thought longingly. "Please make her shut up..."  
  
"Like...THIS ONE?" She held up Potato in her smooth pink hand, by one of his fragile antennae.  
  
"I'll kill her..." I thought angrilly, as my face flushed and I started shaking with anger.  
  
Everyone who was awake was looking at me now. The fact that Elizabeth was sliding a stuffed bunny rabbit out of sight as she laughed at me was little comfort.  
  
"Want him back?" Lela leered at me and took hold of the other antenna.  
  
Suddenly, all my pent up anger seemed to burst forth.  
  
"GIVE HIM BACK!" I screeched across the room. Pat was jerked from sleep. "GIVE HIM THE HELL BACK!"  
  
"Little girls who sleep with butterflies aren't old enough to swear..." Lela chimed out happily in a sing-song voice.  
  
"I think you're a little to old for that!" laughed marion as she hurriedley hid her big plush panda bear. Lela held one of Potato's antaeea in each hand. I didn't think she'd rip him, I just had a feeling, but she was certainly threatening to. My mind worked furiously.  
  
I lunged at her and knocked her backwards into Amy before I even knew what I was doing, making furious grabs at Potato.  
  
"HEY! GET OFF!" she cried surprised, as though she couldn't imagine what on earth she could have done to make me so mad. Elizabeth screamed.  
  
I heard feet pattering out the door, probably toget an adult, but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting Potato back before Lela ripped him in two.  
  
On my third attempt, I managed to grab one of his wings and hold tight. Amy had jumped back, but Lela was still haning on to Potato with one hand and me with the other.  
  
"Why isn't this bitch in Slytherin?" I wondered wildly, as Lela grabbed at my hair.  
  
Just then, as Lela yanked my hair and I yanked Potato, two pairs of feet came hurrying into the room, and I knew enough of pattering feet that one pair belonged to someone older than I was. Everything stopped. For the first time, i noticed Pat trying to pull Lela off me, but she was frozen too. it was like the scene had been put on "pause."  
  
"What on EARTH is going on here?" broke the silence. I looked over at the door. Elizabeth was standing meekly beside a very tall girl with bushy brown hair.  
  
"It's the first DAY, for pity's sake! I thought I'd have to deal with this junk from the Slytherins, but not from Gryffindors! What happened here?"  
  
Before I could say anything, Lela got a look in her eye that I didn't like AT ALL.  
  
"Umm...Zoe was making fun of me because i sleep with this butterfly!" she erupted from her wide mouth. Her curly black hair began to get frizzy.  
  
I was so shocked, I couldn't even protest as she carried on with her lie.  
  
"She grbbed it, and started making fun of me in front of everyone! I tried to get it back, but she pulled my hair!" She bacame aware just then that she still had a fistful of MY hair. She dropped it hurriedly. Her hair was frizzier now.  
  
"This is ridiculous!" The girl with the brown hair snapped. Zoe, give Lela back her butterfly!" My heart stopped. Pat opened her mouth then.  
  
"Excuse me, but-"  
  
"BE QUIET! ZOE! GET A MOVE ON!"  
  
"But-" Pat squeaked out.  
  
"PAT! SHUT UP!" the girl growled, and rolled her brown eyes.  
  
"Zoe.."  
  
I wanted to cry. No one was sticking up for me but pat, and this girl wouldn't let her speak. And she was either going to stand there until I surrendered Potato to Lela, or take him away and give him to her herself.  
  
Slowly, with shaking hands, and Pat still trying to say something, I bit back tears as I handed Potato to Lela, who grinned.  
  
"Thank you so much. Now, PLEASE don't let this happen again! I was studying, okay?" The girl turned around and left, slamming the door behind her.  
  
"I will KILL her!" Exclaimed Pat. "She's always acting like this!"  
  
"Lela?" I asked shakily.  
  
"No, Head girl. Hermione. She's my cousin, and she gasn't taken too kindly to me since I flushed her golfish down the toilet when she was seven." Pat explained. But I wasn't listening.  
  
"Okay, lela. You've had your stupid fun. Now give me back my butterfly!" I glared at her, and Pat was imediatley at my side, also glaring.  
  
"Oh, I don't know if I will...He's SUCH a nice butterfly..." she grinned evily at me. "I think I'll call him...Flutterby." She smiled at me. "Have a good first lesson!"  
  
*  
  
This was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. Potato was gone. I had a feeling Hermione wasn't going to let me complain, and what teacher would help me with a problem so juvinile as a stolen stuffed animal?  
  
Lela had tossed him on the bed, where he'd landed, upside down. She didn't even talk to him. Her hair had imediatley gone back to being curly after Hermione had left. Apparently, it got frizzy when she told lies. Not that that would help me with my problem. And as much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I WAS too old to care so much about a stuffed animal. But she didn't understand. I NEEDED him. He was the only one who truly understood how I felt when i woke up scared. the only one I could talk to about some things. Like dad, or growing up, or how much I hated someione. This was going to be a long year.  
  
Paul and Pat were on my side of course, but if the Head Girl wouldn't listen to Pat and Paul wasn't even allowed into our room, what could they really do?  
  
My first class was so boring, and I was so miserable, I could hardly remember what it was.  
  
"Cheer up, Zoe." said Pat kindly, as we went up to the dorm to get our books at lunch. "You'll get him back. And I know how much it means to you. I had this tiger that was so...oh, you know. he was special. But I forgot him. Mom's sending him up from home, as soon as I send her a letter so she can use the owl..."  
  
Her chatter died away as I opened to dormitory door, and what did I see, but Potato, Or Flutterby, as he was now called, lying unguarded on Lela's bed.  
  
"Take him!" Whispered Pat. "You can hide him or something!"  
  
The same thought had crossed my mind. I didn't want to hide him, but what else was my choice? Carefully, I picked him up, and a piercing squalk rang through te room, like a parrot being stepped on.  
  
"Put him down!" cried Pat. "She's jinxed him!" I dropped him. He looked up at me sadly, as the squalking stopped. Potato jinxed/ i'd kill her!  
  
Dimly noticing that this was the second time i'd wanted to kill Lela in one day, I got my books and hurried to Defence against the dark arts as the bell rang, Pat alongside me.  
  
*  
  
That was a class I would have enjoyed, if I'd still had Potato. The teacher was named Professor Bannock, but she had told us first thing to call her Samantha. She was young, maybe thirty, whch was a surprise, since all my other teachers had been old, or, in one case, dead.  
  
She's first given us a little talk.  
  
"Defence Against The Dark Arts is a very very VERY important branch of magic, especially now, for, scarcley two years ago, He Who must Not Be Named returned. "  
  
Most of the class had looked puzzled, those were the muggle borns like Paul and Pat, and to the other half, the pure bloods, it was old news. Two years had gone by. Voldemort had killed about seven families, three important president-type people, seven other misilanious people, and the old Minister For Magic, Cornelius Fudge. The new one was named Peter McDonohugh, and he actually did a pretty good job.  
  
Samantha then explained to the muggle-borns who Voldemort was, and we preceded to learn a bit of basic defence. Samantha called me over to her desk as we were leaving.  
  
"Are you okay? You seemed so sad all through the class."  
  
"It's nothing" I said, for the firt time embarrassed to tell anyone about Potato.  
  
"Well, okay..." she didn't look convinced. "You can always come to me, though, okay? I never had teachers who would LISTEN when I was a kid. I'm going to be that kind of teacher, one who will listen. So you can always talk to me, okay?"   
  
I nodded, feeling that if I told her my problem, she's probably laugh me out of her office. 


	4. IV

I'm not really supposed to be on the computer, but a new review always pushes me to write. Yes, Dragonwing, she will get Potato back eventually and no,and her dreams and her dad MIGHT be connected...hehehe..., but I'll say no more here.   
  
  
  
Disclaimer: I own a couple of knick-knacks, a Calvin and Hobbes book, and everything I bought at the garage sale yesterday. But not Hogwarts.  
  
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That night was like trying to sleep through a rock concert. Every little noise was magnified to as loud as ever, and my covers were so hot, I finally threw even my sheet off and slept uncovered. But that way, I felt like something was gonna be able to grab me and pull me under the bed. You know the feeling.  
  
If I turned on my right, I saw Pat's feet. She sleeps with her entire body under her blankets, except her feet, which she sticks out at the side to ahng over the edge of the bed. I suppose this is so she'll be ready to get out of bed in the morning.  
  
And of course, if I turned on my left, I saw Lela and Potato.   
  
Potato was actually being slept with. Lela didn't strike me as the type who actually slept with stuffed animals. If she had one of her own, she probably puts it at the foot of the bed or under her pillow. But she hugged Potato especially tight. I supposed she was doing this to spite me.  
  
He was tucked under her arm, with her blue-black curls falling all over him, looking like he couldn't breathe.  
  
"Potato." I whispered as quietly as I could.  
  
He was awake at once. He didn't even bother to resond. He just said "Get me OUTTA here!"  
  
"Hey, I tried, but she has you jinxed. She's got an alarm type thing on you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I know. I promise I'll get you out of there as soon as I can. I'm SO sorry."  
  
"This isn't your fault."  
  
"I know."  
  
We were quiet a minute, just looking sadly at one another.  
  
"What's she like?" I whispered.  
  
"Oh, Zoe, she REEKS! This girl has the worst BO I've ever-"  
  
"Oh? I thought she smelled a bit like watermellons."  
  
"I know. That's her BO."   
  
I stared, horrified. "EW! that's DISGUSTING!"  
  
"I know."  
  
"Yep, she's full of herself, this one."  
  
"More like full of sh-poop!"  
  
"Same thing, really." he joked. I giggled.  
  
"Isn't there ANYTHING you can do?" He asked me desperatley.  
  
"Not from how I see it. But I'll keep trying. I'll look up that curse and find the counter-jinx. I'll get you back somehow!"  
  
"Thanks. Now, go to sleep, Zoe. You have Potions tomorrow."  
  
I smiled one last time at him, and rolled over. I'd rather look at feet than Potato being crushed by Lela.  
  
"Why did I name him Potato, anyway..." I wondered, as I drifted off to sleep.  
  
*  
  
Once again, I woke up in a cold sweat, and once again, I couldn't remember anything.  
  
"This has never happened every night before." I thought angrilly. "What's up here." Dimly, I felt for Potato, and then I remembered. I didn't have Potato any more.  
  
Stifiling a sob, I went to the foot of the bed and Picked up Tara. Her gauze wings were streched tightly over wires that would bend to gve her wings a different shape. Her antannae were two wires with one of those glittery pom-pom balls at each end. Her blue sequen eyes sparkled, and her pink thread mouth smiled. She looked blankly at me. I never talked to her. She was one i truly did have to pretend was talking to me.  
  
"Protect me, Tara." I whispered into the dark, with my sweaty hair squeaking on the pillow. Tara said nothing.  
  
I despaired, and rolled over again, my eyes screwed shut.  
  
"Tara." whispered Potato from Lela's bed. "I know she dosn't talk to you much, but she needs you. If you don't help her, there will be consequences."  
  
"Shut up, Potato." I thought. "Don't threaten other butterflies."  
  
Tara glanced over at me.  
  
"Hi." she said, a bit shyly.  
  
"Hey." I whispered, silent tears falling down my cheeks.  
  
"Erm...uh, don't cry. It's going to be okay."  
  
Tara wasn't much of a comforter. And I still didn't know her well enough for her to say much else to me. I decided to try something else. I didn't do it often, but it was worth a shot.  
  
"Um...I don't do this often." I whispered out loud into the darkness. "I'm not sure how to begin..."  
  
I hoped no one was awake to hear this.  
  
"Um, God..." i tried again. "I don't know if you're up there. I don't know for certain if you exist." I thought, with a tear stained face.  
  
"But if you do, then Please, God..." I whispered even quieter. "If you're up there, then please, help me to get rid of these nightmars."  
  
With the feeling of a job well done, I rolled sadly over. Then, as an afterthought, I whispered: "And if you can do something about Potato, I'd really appreciate that, too."  
  
*  
  
Potions the next day was a complete didaster. The teacher, Professor Snape, paired me to work with none other than Lela, who had informed all the Slytherins that I slept with Potato before the end of the period.  
  
"I think you mean she USED to sleep with her buterfly." snapped Pat. "Unforunateley, you stole him, so now, I think it's YOU who's sleeping with a stuffy!"  
  
I decided right then and there that I would forever be grateful to Pat Adams. And even though Paul was too shy to speak up, he was really supportive as well.  
  
"I'm SURE you'll get it back, Zoe." he said to me at dinner that night. "People like her never win. One time, there was a girl like her in my old school, and she always told everyone I liked broccoli."  
  
"but, ummm...DID you like broccoli?" asked Pat.  
  
"Yes. Why?"   
  
Pat and I stared at him.  
  
"Never mind." she said sarcastically.  
  
Meanwhile, my lessons were all going pretty well, exept Potions, of course, but that went without saying. There was always a class someone didn't like, in my last school, it had been math.  
  
I was still having the nightmares AT LEAST evry other night, but more than often they were every night. I wanted so badly to figure out why I had them, where they were coming from, that it was driving me crazy.  
  
I talked with potato from across the room each night, well after midnight of course, so that no one could hear us, and Tara and i were becoming especially close. She could talk on her own now.  
  
But it was on a cloudy day near the end of September that i got myself wrapped in a proposition I couldn't refuse...  
  
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Oooh, cliff hanger! Next chapter will be up soon! Like, tommorrow. Or maybe today, uif mom dosn't come home from work and see me on the flicker box. now, review. 


	5. V

Hi. It's me, yall! Right, I have to go shower soon, so This may or may not be a short chapter.   
  
And know what else? I didn't get any reviews for the last chater. Oh, yeah, wait, I did. from ElenorLarathiel, my faithful reader, who is right, Paul does mound a bit like Ron, which wasn't intentional, but I had to have the wierd person somewheres, right?I chose him.   
  
Out of the friends, Pat's the one who's becoming more rounded with personality, but Paul will have his very very few moments to shine. I torture him because he's modeled after my brother...you probably want to read the chapter, right? Well, Too bad! I feel like talking! Mwa ha ha ah ha! Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheh! okay, okay, sorry. Here it is.  
  
It all started with the first flying lesson. It was the last day of September, and I did NOT want to get up that morning.   
  
I'd gone about a month without Potato now, and Lela was still meaner than ever. Like I said, I didn't want to get up on the morning whn I had to get on a broom and go into the air. I'd never liked hights.   
  
Just as I was pondering how to get out of the lesson, my bedcovers were yanked off me and Pat was on top of me, trying to pull me off the bed.  
  
"GET UP, YOU!" she laughed happily.. "WE FLY TODAY!"   
  
I moaned, and clutched the sheets tighter. She pulled at my ankles, and the sheet started to ease itself from the bed.  
  
"Oh, that's mature." siad the snide voice of Lela.  
  
"Oh, you're a bi-" Pat started, but I leapt up just then, wanting to get it overwith, and hit her in the chin.  
  
"Ow." she said, rubing her jaw.  
  
"It's okay."  
  
I pulled on some socks.  
  
When I was dresses,, I hurried down without eating breakfast. I'd probably barf or something.  
  
When Pat, Paul, the rest of the class and I got down to the pitch, I almost threw up, but I hadn't eaten anything, so I just wound up with the dry heaves.  
  
Broom riding was not only scary, it was embarassing, belive me, You don't feel great sitting on a home cleaning supply with everyone watching you.  
  
By the time I got high enough, I was starting to feel sick, and was even dizzier than I had been on the ground. Why did this always happen?  
  
I could vaugley hear the teacher telling me to come down, but I stayed put. At that point, it was only about not losing my stomach lining. I was so dizzy, I couldn't see. I was breathing hard, sweating, my eyes rolled. Someone below screamed, adn I had a vauge suspision that I was rising continually higher.  
  
I could feel wind rushing by, I knew I as falling but I didn't care, I was almost delirious.   
  
My broom was gone. The pitch was gone. Everything was gone. I could see only black. Black, and fear. It's not often you can actually see fear. But I could.  
  
I thought I was slowing down, but I didn't know for sure. It was still all black. I retched.  
  
It ws spinnin. All was spinning. It was over, it was all over...  
  
"ZOE!" I heard a voice in my head, a voice that was gentile and soothing, but for some reason, it struck fear into her my heart.  
  
"ZOE!" It commanded. "Open your eyes!"  
  
I retched again, and spun around. I was sure that I was falling now.  
  
"Zoe, this is yor last warning. Open your eyes NOW! It's the only way!" I shivered. I took a deep breath, and after much trying, I opened my eyes.  
  
Everything stopped. I hung suspended in mid air, still sicker than I ever had been. All below me were stopped. The bird next to me had stopped. Time itself had stopped. This was incredibly poweful magic. But I didn't care about that now. I wanted down. And soon, I fell down, slowly. It was like slow motion. Soon, i hit the gound, and lay, jerking and twitching,then I promptly rolled over and threw up.  
  
I lay rolling on the moist grass, eyes rolling and body twitching.  
  
The next thing I felt was considerable pain on my face. Someone had slapped me.  
  
"ZOE! CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN!" Pat stood over me, slapping my face and shaking me. I opened my eyes wearily.  
  
"Professor, can I please take her to the hospital wing?" Pat asked Frantically   
  
"If she can walk." Madam Hooch, who I could tell was fraeked out of her mind but was trying not to show it.  
  
With Pat's help, I staggared to the castle, weakly and moaning. She sat me down to rest in the entrance hall.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked, quietly.  
  
"I think so." I said weakly.  
  
"Good." she said. "Now, let's get you to the hospital wing before you croak right inmy arms.  
  
##############################################################################################################  
  
I woke up again a week or so later, feeling better except for my headache. Paul was sitting besiode me, and there were a ton of books beside him.  
  
"Hi." he said. "Feel better?"  
  
"I think so..." I said, dimly thinking what my hair must ahve looked like.  
  
"Good." he said. "Pat would have come too, but she's in detention for slugging a kid who made fun of you."  
  
"Does her name start with L and end with A?" I asked, sceptically.  
  
"Funnily enough, yes." he grinned. "She's been a total witch lateley."  
  
"Even more than usual?" I asked.  
  
"If that's possible." he grinned.  
  
Suddenly I sat bolt upright.  
  
"Does she still have my butterfly?" I asked, praying for a mirical, my head throbbing."  
  
His face got a pale, scared look on it. "I'm not sure." he whispered, truthfully.  
  
"Oh." I said quietly. I think we both knew hat had become of Potato in my absense.  
  
Three days later, though, it seemed we had been wrong. I was just wondering if I might be able to get up without passing out when who should come into the hospital wing but Lela, holding a neatly wrapped package.  
  
"Hi." she said quietly. "I was hoping you were feeling beter..." her hair frizzed.  
  
"Give it up, Lela. I know you're lying. Waht do you want?"  
  
Lela glared at me.  
  
"Fine." she snapped. "I'll cut the sweetalk. Zoe, I invent spells."  
  
I stared at her for a minute.  
  
"You what?"  
  
"I invent spells. Make up new ones. I've been doing it since I was seven."  
  
"You can't invent a spell."   
  
"Then how did all this stuff we're learning come into existance, I wonder?" she smirked. I took a minute to think about that. She was right.  
  
"So..." I said. "What has that got to do with me?"  
  
"Remember the parrot alarm I put on your rat?"  
  
"Butterfly."   
  
"Whatever. I invented that."  
  
I gaped.  
  
"Yes." she said. "It's true. Now Zoe, i know you talk to him at night."  
  
"What?" I gasped in horror. How embarrassing!  
  
" I won't tell anyone..." she started. "If you let me try out a spell on him."  
  
"What's stopping you?" I snapped. "He's yours now."  
  
"Not really." she smiled. "See, I don't really like stuffed animals."  
  
"Surprise surprise." I muttered.  
  
"Shut up. Now, I know you talk to him, and it just so happens that the latest spell i've invented is a talking spell. I can make stuffed animals talk."  
  
"And..." I said, suspiciously.  
  
"And, If you let me try it out on Tomato or whatever he's called..." she leered. "I'll give him back to you."  
  
I blinked. Here before me was a chance to get Potato back! But did I want to do it this way?  
  
Lela opened her package and out slid Potato. She whipped out her wand, and muttered the words "Discorso inanimato!"  
  
Potato blinked, and sat up.   
  
"Hullo." he said, in an aristocratic voice that would have made me despise him if I hadn't known how nice he really was. "Who are you, then?"  
  
I looked at him. I looked at Lela. I looked at my fingers. his was my last chance...  
  
"Okay." I said at last. "I'll take him!" 


End file.
